Drawing upon more than 50 years of exceptional experience in education and psychology, Dr. Eric Klinger has been recognized as a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Minnesota since 2006, where he served as a full professor of psychology beginning in 1969 and in the graduate faculty beginning in 1978. Formerly serving the university as an assistant and associate professor since 1962, he was also a longtime coordinator of psychology discipline on the Morris Campus between 1962 and 2006. Prior to his tenure at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Klinger was an instructor in psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years and a clinical psychology trainee at two VA hospitals in the Chicago, Illinois, area. At the inception of his career in 1954, he was a research associate at the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Throughout his astounding career, Dr. Klinger was a visiting professor at the University of Konstanz, Ruhr University of Bochum and the University of Göttingen in Germany. He has also been an occasional private practice practitioner in psychotherapy until 1989. Contributing his expertise to the written word as well, Dr. Klinger has authored three books: “Structure and Functions of Fantasy” in 1971, “Meaning and Void: Inner Experience and the Incentives in People’s Lives” in 1977 and “Daydreaming” in 1990. Furthermore, he has sat on multiple editorial boards and served as an associate and co editor of various bulletins, encyclopedias and textbooks. Notably, he was a manuscript reviewer for 49 journals and has authored many journal articles and chapters in other books.
As a testament to his success in the field, Dr. Klinger has received a number of accolades. He has been awarded Fellow status in the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Midwestern Psychological Association. Named among the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology since 1978, he has also been inducted into International Authors and Writers Who’s Who, the Writers Directory, the Dictionary of International Biography, the International Scholars Directory, Contemporary Authors, Outstanding Educators of America, and American Men and Women of Science.
Likewise, Dr. Klinger was honored with the Henry A. Murray Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2005, the Faculty Research Award from the University of Minnesota in 2000, and the Outstanding Teacher in Undergraduate Psychology Award from the Minnesota Psychological Association in 1990. A past Fulbright senior scholar in Germany in the mid-1970s, he has also been a frequent grantee of various organizations, including the University of Bergen in Norway, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the University of Health Sciences at the University of Chicago Medical School, the University of Minnesota Graduate School, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation.
A native of Austria, Dr. Klinger looks back upon his past as a learning opportunity, as he commenced his early life as a refugee who immigrated to the United States at the age of 10. Noting that this relocation incurred significant influence upon his formative development, he advises others who are thinking about entering the field of psychology to reflect upon subjects that pique their curiosity. He says that it is important to develop thoughts regarding what one is learning, and to continue developing those thoughts to the point where they can be elaborated upon and passed down to future generations.
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